GEOTHERMAL BEATS W.VA’S COAL

Bonanza: Heat from below
Editorial, June 25, 2011 (Gazette-Mail)

"A couple of years ago, West Virginia University scientist Brian Anderson received a $1.2 million federal stimulus grant for three years of research into how to exploit a potential gold mine -- geothermal energy seething at 350 degrees F. deep under north-central West Virginia, beneath his feet in Morgantown. Additional researchers from three other U.S. universities joined to study the Appalachian 'hot spot.'"

[Anderson, Geothermal in Coal Country, July-August issue of Sierra magazine:] "…[A West Virginia] hot spot 2.4 miles under the Appalachian foothills could [help power the state for millennia and] deliver 18,900 megawatts of energy -- more than what West Virginia coal generates."

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"…[It] may not be quite hot enough, at such extreme depth, to drive electricity plants directly, but it could heat hundreds of buildings in winter -- even using steam pipe networks to warm entire cities -- or dry timber industry sawdust and waste for conversion into synthetic gas for power plants or liquid fuel for vehicles…[If the] northern West Virginia [resource] can be tapped…[it will] create jobs and boost the state's economy."

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"Geothermal heat rises from Earth's molten core and from radioactive decay of underground minerals -- and even from solar energy absorbed by the planet's surface. It's easy to harness this power where tectonic faults let the fiery force rise in geysers, hot springs and the like. Elsewhere, expensive deep wells must be drilled -- down-shafts to send water into the hot zones, and up-shafts to bring raging steam to the surface. It costs millions, but the result is free, nonpolluting power.

"Around the world, 24 nations generate more than 10,000 megawatts of electricity from geothermal power, and much more energy is tapped for community heating and industrial use…Last year, researchers at Southern Methodist University studied temperature readings from 1,400 West Virginia wells and discovered the [state’s] underlying hot spot…"